the death penalty

it's been a while since we've done this one so I figured I'd bring it up again

The majority of the world's countries have outlawed the death penalty, or at the very least tend to not make use of it. There are however some major countries that still actively make use of it, like the US and China. It's a somewhat controversial issue, since it, y'know, involves killing people. The topic also tends to expand beyond just the basic morality/human rights part of it, often getting into things like if there's any possible exceptions/if there's certain crimes it should or should not be used for, the method(s) of execution, wrongful execution, etc.

so have at it

In a perfect world we could just off the worst murderers, nonces and drug dealers but people get wrongly convicted. So we can't.

The death penalty is significantly more expensive than to put someone in jail the rest of his life because of endless court appeals and crap. The death penalty also does not prevent crime. So with a practical POV, the death penalty an absolutely disastrous idea.

As a pacifist, I am morally opposed to the death penalty, but as an ethicist (in very loose terms, I should say), there's value is removing someone who does downright vile and evil crimes with no remorse. When Dylan Roof got sentenced to death, I didn't feel queasy because a man with extreme homicidal tendencies was being removed from the world and he couldn't hurt people. It's a complicated issue for me because I have to weigh my opposition to violence and murder against my desire to get ethical justice for victims.

To me, it should be saved exclusively for people who do heinous crimes that severely ruin the lives of others and do them without any guilt. But it's so complex that I can't do more than that.

Death penalty is simply murder, Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to life.

I've never liked it. You can take an innocent person out of prison. You can't take them out of a grave.

Frozocrone said:

I've never liked it. You can take an innocent person out of prison. You can't take them out of a grave.

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About that last bit... wasn't there some guy who was wrongfully executed in the 1950s in the UK that helped with death penalty being abolished there?

Though honestly I don't care too much about this issue, life in prison is basically a death penalty in itself anyways if you look at it one way.

Aeroblast said:

About that last bit... wasn't there some guy who was wrongfully executed in the 1950s in the UK that helped with death penalty being abolished there?

Though honestly I don't care too much about this issue, life in prison is basically a death penalty in itself anyways if you look at it one way.

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There have been several cases that contributed towards the abolition of capital punishment. The one you're probably thinking of is Timothy Evans.

Frozocrone said:

There have been several cases that contributed towards the abolition of capital punishment. The one you're probably thinking of is Timothy Evans.

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Interesting.

And yeah, that's the guy who I was thinking of.

i only agree with the death penalty if the person deserves it. like if they were a rapist or homophobe who was violent, or a pedophile. or just someone who did bad things in society. idk i just think bad people deserve an awful death

I do not agree with the death penalty because there's always the chance of wrongful conviction, like Frozocone said. Plus it costs a lot to put them to death anyway.

sumire said:

i only agree with the death penalty if the person deserves it. like if they were a rapist or homophobe who was violent, or a pedophile. or just someone who did bad things in society. idk i just think bad people deserve an awful death

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Who decides what's bad enough to warrant death?
How can you ever be 100% sure that person did it?
How are you any better than a killer if you kill someone for committing that crime?

Personally I never cared for the wrongful conviction bit because, y'know, they'd never be in the situation in the first place if the court system didn't fuck up and wrongly convict them in the first place. And what, unwarranted decades/life in prison is supposed to be better?

But I've always been in support of the death penalty, although I think it shouldn't be used as a crime deterrent, and instead just as a method to dispose of criminals who've committed heinous crimes and also have shown zero evidence that they will ever be fit to be released back into society or contribute to it. Life imprisonment always sounded like a huge waste to me.

How can you ever be 100% sure that person did it?

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This could be applied to literally all crimes and sentences, so I guess we should never convict anyone on the off-chance they didn't do it

Nah said:

This could be applied to literally all crimes and sentences, so I guess we should never convict anyone on the off-chance they didn't do it

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Most crimes don't carry a penalty of death.

In my opinion, the death penalty should only be used if there is undeniable evidence that the person had committed a heinous act such as rape, homicide, terrorism, etc. The person has to be pretty much guaranteed to be guilty with no room for evidence suggesting other wise.